Upcycling Unwanted Fashion for Your Ears

Hi! I’m Holly Hutchens, founder, CEO, and doer-of-all-the-things HUTCH! I’m a single lady in the middle of the USA with 2 dogs, a Pinterest-explosion of a house I bought myself on a teacher salary and lover of all things fashion and environmentally-friendly ventures.

In 2019, as the manager of a non-profit that relied heavily on donations of clothing to serve our community, I discovered that many of the donated pieces could not be used for our services. Beautiful fabrics, some new with tags or preciously cared for by its previous owner, would be passed on to another charity for resale. But what if we could reuse, or “upcycle,” them and resell them ourselves, thereby cutting overhead costs.

I had an intern at the time, young and full of creative ideas. We had just received a large donation of brand new, vibrant & patterned dresses, skirts, and shirts from a popular MLM company salesperson. My intern brought in her sewing machine and got to work making scrunchies to sell at our charity events. But I just knew there had to be more.

Enter: Hutch Upcycles. Using donated earrings and donated clothing, I started creating earrings in my free time, excited that we could use these funds to keep our lights on! To continue to serve the underserved. Women in need with nowhere to go. Unfortunately, this endeavor didn’t come soon enough as lack of funding crippled the non-profit, and with grants quickly running out, I was laid off. Devastated—but still motivated in my mission to divert fast-fashion from landfills, I broke out on my own.

In the summer of 2019, one of my favorite boutiques hosted a trunk show for Hutch Upcycles, I eventually landed a wholesale deal to feature my work there, I sold my earrings into another local boutique, and employed a woman in Belize to create a specific line for Hutch. I started back up as a 4th grade teacher and things were looking UP!

I think we all know where this story is destined to go… COVID-19 forced everyone indoors shortly thereafter and my focus was solely on my students and their well-being. My school went live in Fall 2020 and offered virtual, so you guessed it, I lived, ate, and breathed teaching.

Frustrated with this imbalance, I opted to do Hutch Upcycles full-time. And I Am Not Looking Back! This is my passion project and hoping to make it my livelihood. Two pups rely on me!

Thank you so much for visiting! Please reach out for custom orders!

xo Holly